Regulars here will have read my thinking through the practice of lavabo, washing hands before prayer, and its presence in the Abrahamic religions.
Whenever I enter a church and pass by the filled baptism font on my way in, I dip my hand in the water and sign myself with the cross. If I think through this action I would associate it with baptism. I do the same as I pass a Holy Water font/stoup.
But I now realise there may also be something else going on. With the lavabo research in mind, as I dipped my hand into the water to go and pray… it suddenly felt a vestigial hand-washing before prayer…
…a practice carried as an echo down the long corridors of time.